


other birds

by mothicalcreatures



Series: your sincerely attached friend [2]
Category: The Terror (TV 2018)
Genre: Fluff, Kid Fic, Multi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-02
Updated: 2019-12-02
Packaged: 2021-03-03 13:14:55
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,134
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21639361
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mothicalcreatures/pseuds/mothicalcreatures
Summary: James woke to the sound of a baby squalling and the movements of a person climbing out of bed. There were soft muttered hushings, the creak of a rocking chair, and then silence once again as Sarah settled down to nurse little Alice.
Relationships: Commander James Fitzjames/Edward Philips Charlewood/Sarah Carlton Charlewood
Series: your sincerely attached friend [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1559914
Comments: 3
Kudos: 15





	other birds

**Author's Note:**

> So, since I'm really winging it with the Charlewoods' kids let's establish some rough ages.
> 
> Alice Fitzjames: Literal infant  
Sophia Margaret: 3  
Annie Sophie: 6  
Edward Philips Jr.: 7  
Charles Benjamin: 8

James woke to the sound of a baby squalling and the movements of a person climbing out of bed. There were soft muttered hushings, the creak of a rocking chair, and then silence once again as Sarah settled down to nurse little Alice.

He shifted ever so slightly toward the now vacated side of the bed, but was thwarted in his attempt to escape overwhelming heat of being pressed up against another person in a warm room, when Edward, still half asleep, tightened his grip around James’ waist to pull him back.

Edward never seemed to wake fully to Alice crying, even though they were in the same room. He’d had always been a heavy sleeper, but Alice slept in the same room as them, and her screams were quiet piercing. Though perhaps James had just grown accustomed to waking to the sound of screams.

Eventually James heard the telltale creak that meant Sarah had gotten up from the rocking chair. There were a few more fussing noises from Alice and then Sarah was climbing back into bed.

“How is she?” James asked softly.

Sarah tutted. “She always wakes you, doesn’t she.”

“I don’t mind,” James said, and it was true, he didn’t.

“If you’re sure…”

“I am,” James said, reaching to take Sarah’s hand. “I get much better sleep in a room with an infant than I did in the Arctic.”

If James could see in the dark of the room, he was certain he would see Sarah rolling her eyes.

“I suppose being called on at all hours would keep you from getting much good sleep,” she admitted. “But if you could sleep even better in another room, I would have you tell me.”

“I sleep best with you and Ed,” James said. “Alice really is no trouble. She’s keeping in true Fitzjames tradition of waking people up unnecessarily in the middle of the night.”

Sarah laughed softly and kissed James on the cheek before settling in close to him and the two of them drifted off back to sleep until the next time Alice woke up crying.

* * *

James was lying on the floor of the parlor, a horribly uncomfortable position for his back, but Sophia was curled up asleep on his chest and he just couldn’t bring himself to move, lest he disturb her. The decision was taken out of his hands, however, when a loud crash came from thehallway outside and Sophia startled awake.

“It’s all right,” James murmured. “I think something just fell.”

There was another crash, followed by the sound of Tess, the nursemaid, yelling “Outside with you both! I told you this would happen if you kept throwing that ball around indoors.”

Sophia didn’t seem to care, she just yawned and rubbed at her eyes.

“It sounds like your brother’s are causing Tess some trouble,” James said, slowly levering himself to sit up as Sophia climbed off him. “Shall we see what they’re up to?”

Sophia shook her head. “No, still nap time.” 

James chuckled. “All right, why don’t we go up to your room to continue napping. It will be much more comfortable than sleeping on the floor.” Particularly for James’.

Sophia stared at James silently for several moments as she mulled over this suggestion.

“You’ll stay too,” she finally declared and James laughed.

“Of course, but you will have to walk yourself up the stairs,” he said. “I need my hand to use the railing going up, so I can’t carry you.”

Sophia again thought this over for a moment before saying, “That’s fine,” and getting to her feet.

James hauled himself up as well, his back protesting painfully as he did. Lying down on a bed was definitely going to be needed.

They reached the stares just as Charles and Edward Jr., the aforementioned troublemakers, came running down the stairs.

“Uncle James!” Charles called, skidding to a halt at the bottom of the stairs. “Will you come outside with us? We were going to play catch.”

“I’m taking Sophia up to lie down right now, but maybe later,” James said. “After lunch, if your mother decides you aren’t in too much trouble.”

“We didn’t break anything,” Edward Jr. said, pouting. “I caught the vase that fell.”

“Well, that’s good, at least,” James said. “And like I said, I’ll be up for playing with you later.”

Charles and Edward both nodded, shouting goodbyes over their shoulders as they hurried off to get out of the house to continue their games outside.

* * *

“I want _Uncle James_ to tell us a bedtime story,” Annie whined.

Their nursemaid, Tess, having gotten the four elder Charlewood children ready for bed, had broached the question what might they like to hear as a bedtime story.

“Your Uncle James wasn’t feeling well and retired early,” Tess said.

Edward Jr. crossed his arms. “He said he needed to lie down for _a little while_, that’s not going to bed. That means he’d be up again later.”

Tess sighed. “I will see if he is awake, but if he’s not or if he’s still feeling too poorly, you will have to make do with me reading something from your story books.” 

Annie pouted loudly and Charles groaned and yanked his blankets up over his head.

James had laughed when Tess had relayed to situation to him.

“I think I can manage a story or two,” he’d told her, assuring her that it really was no trouble. “It’s hardly a bad thing to be disturbed about.” 

Annie lit up when James came in. “You came! Are you feeling better?” 

Upon hearing that Charles popped his out from under his blankets and Edward finally crawled under his covers. Sophia was already asleep.

“I am,” James said, settling into the chair that the children had dubbed the ‘reading chair.’ “Now what sort of story would you like the hear?”

“The one about where you got robbed delivering mail,” Edward said.

“No,” Annie said. “Tell the one about the cheetah!”

“Or the one about father and the snake,” Charles suggested. “Or the centipedes.”

Annie made a disgusted face. “The cenipede story is gross.”

“It’s cen-TI-pede, with a 't,'” Charles corrected and Annie stuck out her tongue at him.

“Now, let’s not fight over this,” James said. “How about I tell you something new?”

“Like what?” Charles asked.

James grinned. “I think I’ll tell you all about the time I got myself stuck in a canoe up in the frigid water of Disko Bay, which is far up north in Greenland, quite close the Arctic.”

“Myself and a few others had gone ashore to visit the native Inuit people who lived in the area and they had these tiny little canoes, smallest I’ve ever seen. I had to take off my trousers just to fit inside!”

**Author's Note:**

> Historical Notes:
> 
> 1\. The fic title and series title come from the last letter that Fitzjames wrote to Charlewood. He ended it:  
“I hope my god-daughter and your other birds are well. Give my love to Mrs. Charlewood, and believe me always your sincerely attached friend, JAMES FITZJAMES. 'Erebus,’ 4th June, 1845."
> 
> 2\. When Fitzjames mentions Alice keeping to the Fitzjames tradition by waking people in the middle of night, he's referring to that time he and Charlewood burst in on their sleeping landlady and her husband while having a pillow fight. The landlady wasn't mad about it and apparently laughed it off saying no harm was done.
> 
> 3\. The stories referenced by the children are: 
> 
> a. Towards the end of the Euphrates expedition Fitzjames volunteered to take the mail they were attempting to deliver by foot 1,000 miles to get it to a ship to take it to London. His party was robbed along the way because it was assumed they were carrying gold instead of mail. 
> 
> b. On James' first command, the HMS Clio, he somehow acquired a cheetah for a pet/ships cat.
> 
> c. That time on the Euphrates expedition when Charlewood got bitten by a snake. Fitzjames found the snake in Charlewood's bedding after Charlewood had left to travel ahead, and then sent the dead snake to Charlewood with a letter like, "You okay? We found this snake in your bed."
> 
> d. There were centipedes everywhere during the Euphrates expedition. Charlewood caught two, preserved them in alcohol and then they came back to life once they were removed from the alcohol a year later. Fitzjames also once yanked a dude's coat off to keep him from being bitten by one. 
> 
> 4\. The story James actually tells the kiddos is about the time he overturned an Inuit canoe while paddling around in Disko Bay in the very early days of the Franklin expedition. “At last over I went head downwards where I remained until rescued.”


End file.
